Liverpool suffer fresh injury blow with Joel Matip a doubt for Crystal Palace

Liverpool are facing up to another potential injury absentee in defence ahead of Monday’s Premier League game against Crystal Palace, with Joel Matip understood to be a doubt.

The club are already struggling with a long injury list and as a precaution, Matip, an important figure last season, sat out of training on Friday in the hope he might possibly be ready for the Palace game. The 31-year-old, who played against Fulham in the season opener, has a groin problem.

It means that Joe Gomez, should he be fully fit, is likely to partner Virgil Van Dijk in defence with Matip out the picture. Injury to a patella tendon in 2020-2021 season meant that Gomez did not play a game that season after November. The Englishman featured in 21 games last season, just eight in the Premier League, and he is being carefully monitored. He trained with the squad on Friday.

Jurgen Klopp is already without the first-choice centre-half Ibrahima Konate who picked up a knee problem in pre-season and is out for a month. The club have Nat Phillips for cover for the time being and it also means the recruitment department may have to re-evaluate the merits of allowing 20-year-old Dutch defender Sepp van den Berg to go out on loan this window. The latest problem with Matip has added to a long list of injuries, with the season just one game old.

Liverpool are without Thiago Alcantara, Diogo Jota, Curtis Jones, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and new full-back Calvin Ramsey. All are currently injured, as is the reserve goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher. Klopp said at his press conference on Friday that Naby Keita would be fit to play in Monday’s game and that Kostas Tsimikas had trained again with the first team after a period injured. Thiago is out for four weeks up to six weeks with a hamstring injury. Harvey Elliott, who missed much of last season through injury, may start against Palace.

Klopp said: “I am happy with the strength, size and quality of my squad. We have injuries, that's how it is. Now it is the question how long the players will be out and there are different solutions for it.

"One of them - and there are plenty - is the transfer market but the transfer market only makes sense if you can bring in the right player, the right player not a player. It is easy to bring a player in but that doesn't help even for a week for some players.”

Klopp added: "All the other solutions are inside the squad. We have now too many injuries, that is clear … I understand the questions [about potential new signings] but on the other side I don't understand it as well. if there were the right solution for us, we would have done it already. We are not stubborn and say 'No, no way, we don't bring in anyone'. It is just [a question of] the right thing to do.”

On Thiago, Klopp said “the injury is not good”. “I read four to six weeks. I would prefer four.”

The Liverpool manager also conceded that Elliott’s progress meant that the teenager could figure ahead of Keita and James Milner in midfield against Palace. “Everybody has the chance to make the next step in their development. Harvey already played an incredible level and then got injured [last season]. He had a good pre-season, all the games he came on he was really decisive. He came on against [Manchester] City [in the Community Shield] and played a really good game.

"Does he have to step up? Yeah, but like all the others as well. Filling in the gap? Actually, when you start with eight or nine midfielders they all have the same chance.”